I’d Do Anything: Blackhawks at Canadiens Preview
The Blackhawks are in Montreal on Monday night to take on the Canadiens for Chicago’s penultimate game of the 2024-25 NHL season.
It also looks to be the first clash between two of the top picks from the 2024 NHL Draft, Artyom Levshunov and Ivan Demidov. I’m sure both fan bases will play this situation cool.
Next up… pic.twitter.com/wc9rZUotkK— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 13, 2025
The Canadiens are just two points away from clinching a berth to the playoffs, but it’s been a bit of a challenge late in the season to earn that final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Not only has Montreal lost their last two games to the Ottawa Senators (5-2 on Friday) and Toronto Maple Leafs (1-0 on Saturday), the Columbus Blue Jackets are on a four-game winning streak as they scramble to potentially close the three-point gap between them and the Canadiens. Considering the Canadiens other opponent during this last little stretch are the Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal’s best bet for punching their ticket to the playoffs is to get two points against Chicago on Monday night.
Although the Canadiens have a middling offense — it’s 17th in the league (2.95 goals per game) — it doesn’t mean they’re without offensive threats in their line up. Nick Suzuki (1.09 points per game), Cole Caufield (0.85), and Jurak Slafkovsky (0.64) are a solid top-line and the team also has Patrik Laine (0.66), Brendan Gallagher (0.48), and Jake Evans (0.44) scattered throughout the lineup that contribute at a top-nine level. On defense, Lane Hutson (0.80) has been an absolute offensive gold mine for the Canadiens.
With Demidov set to make his NHL debut, he’s been slotted onto Montreal’s third line with Alex Newhook and Joel Armia. That leaves the rest of the lines and pairings untouched from their last game.
Canadiens' forward lines and defence pairings tonight vs. Blackhawks with Samuel Montembeault starting in goal #Habs:Caufield – Suzuki – SlafkovskyAnderson – Dvorak – GallagherArmia – Newhook – DemidovLaine – Evans – KapanenMatheson – CarrierGuhle – HutsonStruble – Savard— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) April 14, 2025
Conversely to the Canadiens, the Blackhawks are basically just counting down until this season is over and looking forward to the draft lottery in May. The team is coming off a a 5-4 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, another game that felt more competitive from the Blackhawks even if it didn’t result in a win. Frank Nazar (1 G, 1 A) and Connor Bedard (1 G, 1 A) both picked up two points, Nick Foligno and Ryan Donato scored, and Spencer Knight put on a show in net, even if his .903 save percentage doesn’t look like it. Additionally, the point the Blackhawks picked up in the loss locked them into 31st place in the standings, meaning they officially have the second-best odds at the draft lottery.
Now, whether or not it’s ideal for them to win the 2025 draft lottery is another story …
If the Blackhawks win the draft lottery this year, they’ll be in line to draft a position they don’t need, and they also won’t be able to move up in the lottery in 2026 or 2027.They should probably root against that. New column: https://t.co/MDC9yCMJXk— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 13, 2025
Other than this game being the first meeting between Levshunov vs. Demidov, this game will also serve as the first NHL outing for Ryan Greene, who signed with the Blackhawks on Sunday. He joins Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore as the third NCAA player to sign with the Blackahwks after their collegiate seasons ended. Aidan Thompson also signed but he was sent straight to Rockford instead of Chicago.
Sorensen on Greene: "Really good skater and really reliable defensively. [He's a] guy that errs on the defensive side more than anything."— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 14, 2025 Sorensen on Greene: "Really good skater and really reliable defensively. [He's a] guy that errs on the defensive side more than anything."— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 14, 2025
The Blackhawks lines were once against shuffled around. Greene was skating with Nick Foligno and Moore on the third line at Chicago’s morning skate and, as a result, Ryan Donato — who had been 3C against Winnipeg — moved up to take Moore’s place on the top line with Connor Bedard and Ilya Mikheyev. Lukas Reichel will draw back into the lineup in place of Pat Maroon, who skated in his last game Saturday, while Philipp Kurashev is the odd man out and back in the press box.
Blackhawks lines in Montreal:Donato-Bedard-Mikheyev Teravainen-Nazar-BertuzziFoligno-Greene-MooreSlaggert-Veleno-ReichelVlasic-RinzelMurphy-CrevierKaiser-LevshunovSoderblom*Korchinski and Kurashev are scratches— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 14, 2025
The defense pairings are relatively the same: the only swap is Louis Crevier is in for Alec Martinez, who also laced up for the final NHL game of his career on Saturday against Winnipeg. Arvid Soderblom is expected to be the starter in net.
The last time these two teams met was in early January, the Blackhawks beat the Canadiens 4-2 at the United Center. It wasn’t a particularly interesting game and, despite the score, the Blackhawks were underwater for most of the game. However, Soderblom made 38 saves on 40 shots, Nick Foligno scored twice, and the Blackhawks had a little upset on their hands. Let’s see if they can play a similar spoiler role Monday night.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Canadiens44.04% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 47.62% (28th)43.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 47.09% (28th)2.71 (27th) — Goals per game — 2.95 (17th)3.58 (31st) — Goals against per game — 3.20 (23rd)44.9% (31st) — Faceoffs — 50.9 (13th)24.0% (11th) — Power play — 20.3% (21st)80.0% (13th) — Penalty kill — 81.4% (7h)(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 6 p.m. CTWhere: Centre Bell, MontrealTV: CHSNWebstream: ESPN+, HuluRadio: WGN 720
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